Smith tries to take heat out of scorching housing report
Demographia's 11th survey shows housing afffordability getting worse.
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Hawke’s Bay
Demographia’s 11th annual housing affordability survey has prompted denials and promises from Housing Minister Nick Smith.
He criticised some of the statistical methodology used by the authors but at the same time again blamed the Resource Management Act for failure to deliver cheaper housing.
The annual report is co-authored by retired Christchurch developer Hugh Pavletich and US academic Wendell Cox.
They claim that, historically, prices for houses have been two to three times median household incomes.
However, in recent decades these prices have soared and Auckland is now one of the 10 least affordable cities in the world at 8.2 times the median household income up from 6.7 two years ago, the authors say.
Critics of the survey claim Demographia fails to compare like for like – for example, houses these days are usually much larger at around 250sq m or more, and they come with garages, fences and higher specified amenities and building requirements than in the past.
Even so, regardless of quibbles about statistical differences, the fact remains that Auckland housing is increasingly out of reach of first home buyers.
Housing Minister Mr Smith says he will release information on Wednesday about legislative initiatives to improve housing affordability.
c.hutch@clear.net.nz
Chris Hutching
Mon, 19 Jan 2015
Mon, 19 Jan 2015
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Smith tries to take heat out of scorching housing report
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